Kleyn and Haley named in Irish training squad for World Cup

Fifteen Munster players have been named in Joe Schmidt’s World Cup training squad of 44 and among them are second row Jean Kleyn and full back Mike Haley.

Kleyn qualifies to play for Ireland in August, while Haley has the chance to represent Ireland due to his Kerry born grandmother. Tommy O’Donnell has also been included after returning to fitness.

Tadhg Beirne, Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Peter O’Mahony, John Ryan, CJ Stander, Joey Carbery, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Conor Murray and Rory Scannell are also included.

Ireland will hold training camps in Limerick, Galway and Maynooth in the lead up to the World Cup. Open sessions are planned for both the Limerick and Galway sessions and will be announced in due course.

Joe Schmidt’s men will play warm up games against Italy and Wales at the Aviva Stadium and will be away to England and Wales in the lead up to the tournament in Japan.

“The provinces have done a great job throughout the season with all four of them being involved in two sets of playoffs,” said Schmidt.

“There were some very close calls in selection and it’s always a challenging process because the coaching group are very conscious of how hard the players work.

“It’s ideal that they get a good opportunity to relax for a few weeks before getting stuck into pre-season training and busy ‘Summer Series’ in the lead up to the World Cup.

“Some players have missed out through injury and there are one or two guys that may be added into the squad at a later stage.”

The 44-man squad named today is as follows:

Forwards (24)
Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 9 caps
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) 117 caps
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster) 5 caps
Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 14 caps
Sean Cronin (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 68 caps
Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 14 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 33 caps
Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 88 caps
Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster) 44 caps
Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 7 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 29 caps
Jean Kleyn (Munster) 0 caps
Jack McGrath (St Marys College/Leinster) 54 caps
Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster) 27 caps
Tommy O’Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 12 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) 57 caps
Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) 14 caps
Rhys Ruddock (Lansdowne/Leinster) 21 caps
James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps
John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 18 caps
Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 14 caps
CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster) 31 caps
Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 64 caps
Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 17 caps

Backs (20)
Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht) 17 caps
Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster) 2 caps
Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster) 18 caps
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3 caps
Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster) 12 caps
John Cooney (Terenure College/Ulster) 8 caps
Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 77 caps
Chris Farrell (Young Munster/Munster) 5 caps
Mike Haley (Munster) 0 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 37 caps
Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster) 17 caps
Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 90 caps
Jordan Larmour (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 13 caps
Kieran Marmion (Galwegians/Connacht) 25 caps
Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 10 caps
Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 72 caps
Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 20 caps
Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 3 caps
Jonathan Sexton (St Marys College/Leinster) 83 caps
Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster) 19 caps